Reflections in the run-up to the funeral of the Queen
I was writing a piece as Chairman, reflecting on the death of Queen Elizabeth II to put on our Chapel website, but I realise that the views I express here are personal and may not be shared by everyone. They should certainly not be read as those of the Chapel congregation.
We have been living through a couple of momentous weeks. May we feel humbled by the size and extent of what has been happening and what small part we may have been able to play in the events that have unfolded.
The most central to our thinking and our emotions is the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Expected though it must have been, nonetheless it came as a shock as deaths usually do. It makes us reflect on all sorts of aspects of our own lives and of our relationships. For most of us it triggers memories of others we have known and loved who have already died. The Queen’s passing reminds us of the emotions we went through as our own mother or father or much-loved partner died, leaving us at best saddened, however we came to terms with their deaths in the past. The public response has been extraordinarily moving, a great tribute to the affection in which the Queen was held.
Queen Elizabeth was for me the only monarch I had ever known, arriving back in England as I did just after the death of her father George VI in 1952, and questions of monarchy versus republicanism have never seemed relevant or urgent to discuss. Doubtless others will use this time to bring those conversations to the fore and may drag me into taking a more active view, but this week I am content to wallow in nostalgia and in admiration for the details of her life and work, and for the pageantry that we do so well in this country. And, not least, in sympathy for our new King as he faces a gruelling schedule of official duties that exhaust me at the mere thought of carrying it all off at his age.
But simultaneously we have a new Government. And they have been distracted from the mountains of serious issues that will face the country over the next few months and probably way beyond. One has to feel a smidgeon of sympathy for a new Prime Minister having to cope with a previously unscheduled event of such magnitude only two days after she was confirmed in a post that otherwise would have been occupying, we hope, every minute of her working day. But we pray for her to make the right decisions as the cost-of-living crisis builds ahead of us. We trust that she will be relying on the advice and hard work of battalions of respected and experienced civil servants and advisors as she struggles to defend the health and wellbeing of the people under her responsibility. That is us!
The obsessive coverage of the public media here of the State Funeral has also driven vastly important global news to the sidelines though we should be terribly aware at the same time of crises that other countries are facing. You may think of others, but I offer two for our consideration, the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan and the war in Ukraine.
Pakistan has “never experienced such devastating conditions. The situation on the ground is really terrible” reports a reliable Pakistani friend who is working from Islamabad to distribute food and “reach unreachable populations”. We can do little from afar to alleviate their appalling conditions other than to contribute as much as we can to disaster appeals. Which is what we did last Sunday in our Chapel collection and will repeat for those that still wish to donate next Sunday.
Pakistan is dealing, of course, with a natural disaster, but one brought about by the Climate Change which is a challenge to the global community that we are only slowly and sometimes reluctantly acknowledging. Man’s hand is clearly at work here.
Ukraine is responding to a brutal action that is indisputably the consequence of man’s work in a very different sense. Misery, damage and privations that should be beyond comprehension in the twenty-first century have been brought to us daily over the last six months by the valuable and dramatic reporting on the injustices and tragedies that have befallen the Ukrainian population. This too has been pushed aside by our concerns this week. But we must not forget what is still a conflict that could readily expand to new proportions and could affect us even more directly than the current ‘inconvenience’ of the energy crisis unless senior politicians and negotiators around the world work together to reduce tensions. Once again, this is an issue of enormous significance which has been pushed to the back of the list of our preoccupations.
This has, indeed, has been a momentous week. Let us pray that next week will calm down and offer us a brighter view of the future, hopefully with opportunities to play our small part in helping to heal the world.